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Thames Advertiser, Volume VIII, Issue 2054, 26 May 1875, Page 3

The weather yesterday was cold aud showery, and in the evening a pretty heavy thunderstorm passed over the town. The irregularities of the steamers plying between Auckland and the Thames are causing very great inconvenience. Yesterday the only boat from Auckland • was the ' Knterprka,' which left Auckland on the previous night, She returned at 10 o'clock yesterday morning, taking on the pissengers which -had been detained by the' Manaia' on the previous night, The-Manaia'left for Auckland at 4 o'clock yesterday evesing, but it is questionable.whether she .would not have to seek shelter, but in the event of her reaching Auckland she would have to resume her Coromandel trip 3 today, The' Hauraki' is laid up for repairs; the 'Enterprise' does not leave Auckland until midnight to-night, consequently there willj be no steamer to or from Auckland, to-day, This is the more to be regretted aa the Southora mail by the' Phcobe' was to have been despatched this afternoon. It will also cause great inconvenience to those who went to the Auckland races, . '

We observe one item in the Thames estimates which we do not understand. It is "engineer to .highway boards, £150." The highway boards have, hitherto paid their own engineers, and we have not heard that it is proposed to make any change in the system. .

ft .will be seen by advertisement that Major Keddell announces that he will reopm the Obin'emuri miners' rights inquiry under his commission at the Court house, Gfrahanistown, to-day at 11 o'clock. Major Keddell, we believe, will not summon again before him those who have already made statements on the subject, but under his extended powers a number of new witnesses have been summoned. It is to be hoped that the result of tbis inquiry will be to expose the whole affair, so that the public may know who are to blame, and haro done with the whole matter.

A boy named Alexander Smith, 13 years of age, son of Mr R.- N, Smith, of the Pa Store, Graha'mstown, was kicked by a horso in his father's stable on Monday evening so severely" that his thigh was broken. In' consequence of the rain the boy had on a white waterproof coat when he went into the stable. The white object appears to have startled the horse (which is usually a very quiet' animal) and he kicked back, striking the boy on the thigh and throwing him.back some distance. The injury at first did not.appear very serious, but Dr Fox was called in yesterday, and found that the hone was broken,

• The fresh in the Kauwaeranga river yesterday was not so great as might, have been expected from" the heavy rain-fall which was experienced. It, however, brought down about 30 logs to the Shortland Sawmill Company's booms. The fresh, after last night'sstorm will no doubt be much greater, and there will probably be a'larger number of logs brought down by it,

A man who came down the Kauwaeranga Valley yesterday reported to the police, at the Shortland Station, that he had seen what he believed to be the body of Andrew Petersen in the river, about a mile and a-half below the ford at which the fatal accident occurred, a fortnight ago, He entertains no doubt regarding the objectwhioh he saw being the bo ly, and he wouldhave made an attempt to bring itashore only the river being in flood, after the heavy rain it would be too hazardous a task for one man. He subsequently informed the friends of deceased, and a party will proceed to the place indicated to-day. Should it prove to be the body of Peterson, or a human body at all, there will doubtless be an inquest -this after noon.

The following is the petition, drawn up. by the committee, to be 'presented to the Provincial Council, in reference to the grant to the Pumping. Association, ihe petition was largely signed yesterday, and will be taken to Auck-' land on the first opportunity:—"To the honourable members of the Provincial Council of the province of Auckland, in Council assembled.—The petition of the undersigned humbly showeth—l, That your petitioners are, severally as owners or otherwise, directly or indirectly interested in the mining property within the Thames Goldfield. _2. That a large area of ground, part of the said goldfield, and within the Borough of Thames, was worked down to certain levels, yielding large returns of gold. 3. That there was and is every reason to expect that below the levels aforesaid an equally valuable deposit would be found,'but deeper sinking was prevented by the influx of water. 4. To clear the several mines from water, an association foimed of the owners of several adjoining mines, and called the 'United Pumping Association,' 5. This Association, at its own cost, with the exception •of some not. very considerable contributions from other mine owners, constructed and maintained pumping plant down to and at a depth, of some 400 feet below the sea level. 6. In this work the Association expended upwards of £60,000 down to the time of the agreement hereinafter mentioned, 7, The Government of this colony, with, the concurrence of his Honor the then Superintendent of ( this province, recognising the operations of the said Association as of public utility in developing tho mining wealth of the locality to the. general welfare, agreed, on the solicitation of the iaid Association, to advance to them by instalments, a som of £50,000 on a security agreed upon and subsequently given. 8. That several of such instalments have already been received by the said Association under the said agreement, but the times for making several other cf such instalments, according to the terms, of tho said loan, have passed without such instalments having been paid to the said Association. 9. That such unpaid instalments have been handed over by the said General Government in a manner not previously adopted, and it has ' thereby become a technical necessity, before any further instalments of the said loau can be received by the said Association, that a vote of your honourable Council should be passed in 'the matter. 10, That. by reason of the said' agreement the said Association has, as your memorialists are informed and believe, expent'ed monies and inpurred liabilities io the further execution of tho Eaid work beyond (heir means apart from the said loan, and unless <the balance of the said Joan' be received by the said Association, its operations will be suspended or abandoned to the at least temporary ruin of the mining interest of the said locality, and to the great depression of the general mining interest of tho said field, and of the prosperity, of the province. Wherefore your petitioners humbly pray that jour honourable Council will, takieginto consideration the allegations of your petitioners, . pass such measures in relation to the premises as may appear fit for the relief, of the said Association, and your petitioners therein, And your petitioners will ever pray, !tc."

.- In the Assembly last session, the Government were attacked somewhat bitterly for having agreed to advance a sum of money to assist in the exploration of the deep levels of this field, but we think the expenditure might be amply justified by reference to what is done, by other Governments. The Victorian Government have not assisted the landed interest to the extent the New Zealand Government have done,,but they have done more to assist the development of the mining industry. Our telegrams from Melbourne to-day inform, us that the Government have decided to send out prospecting parties in South Gippsland.

_ The Society of Artists in Auckland has very literally made a donation of £10 to the Technical classes held in connection with the Me.-lunict' Institute, to be distributed inprizes. The teachers have expended the amount in suitable books for the various classes.

The Auckland Evening Star, in speaking of the change in lhe control of the Provincial police force, says:—" We understand that, in all probability, Inspector Broham, SergeantMajor Pardy, and other officers, will remain under Sir George Grey." From what we cm learn, it is not intended to nuke any change in the Thames'police force, and certainly the people here are quite well pleased with things as they are.

The Australasian in a notice of Mr Greg's lecture on the present "High-Pressuie Age," says:—"'Each class now spends in superfluities very much more than the class above it spent only a generation ago, but it would be a very great mistake to imagine that it derives any additional enjoyment. A greater standard of expense his been fixed by custom, and all who are unable to reach it consider themselves poor. It is nothing to them that people of the same class years ago were contented to leave such a scale of expenditure to those far above them in the grades of society. We give up more of our time, we work at a faster,, more destructive rate, we earn more and wo spend more, but we do so urged on by competition and example, and not because we find any more enjoyment in such a course. We make work not only a : : condition, but the continuous object of our lives; we make work even of our ■ pleasures. The burden and fatigue and exhaustion are ail heavier than they were, and the only end that could compensate for these increased toils—a corresponding increase of rest and genuine enjoyment of life—has been wholly lost sight of. We at ■times see precociously grave young people, whom 'we pity from their never haviDg known the lightheadedness, the unconscious delight, the freedom from caTe, of childhood, We consider that they have lost something out of their live* for which nothing that may be reached in manhood or age can in the smallest degree, compensate. And this colony is an example that communities may similarly lose this time of early life before-the cares of nationality have come with all their serious responsibilities. We have no antique, quiet, slowly moving time to look hack upon, and to shed a calm influence even on the present— a period when the days and years were longer and plcasanter than now, and when time was not yet regarded as a thing of commercial value. We began life.at the age of maturity. " The conditions which limit the range of the high-pressure speed of the day in older communities', and offer a place of retreat from its influences, do not exist for us. The commercial spirit which is growing to be overpowerful with th'em is all-powerful with us, But it is a matter of serious reflection how despotically this spirit is ruling us, how it is overtaxing men's energies, absorbing all their activity, enforcing the total sacrifice of their' lives and capabilities, overburdening their strength, and leaving nothing but vacant exhausted hearts and minds for their wearied old age."

A whole family were poisoned, oil March 5, at Elstead, Surrey.- Police constable 91, hearing that such was the case, went to the Woolpack Inn, and saw the landlady, Miry Chandler, dead in her chair in the bedrooni. The landlord was sitting on a stool with his head resting on his arms in a dying condition. The children—William Chand'er, aged 10; Edith Chandler, aged'eight; Thomas'Chand-, ler, aged six; and Alfred Chandler, aged 16 ■months—were all in a helpless condition from tbe effects of poison. In reply to enquiries made by the constable, Charlotte Denyer stated that her father-in-law, Henry Chandler (dead), mixed a quantity of poison with some flour, atfd put it on a plate to till rats. She saw the flour on the plate, but thought it was all right, and put it into a suet pudding. She did not partake of any herself.